Leonardo da Vinci’s Groundbreaking Drawings of the Unborn

Between 15010 and 1512, Leonardo da Vinci drew the human fetus with startling and unprecedented accuracy.

According to Arizona State Univeristy’s Embryo Project Encyclopedia , Leonardo is regarded as “the very first in history to correctly depict the human fetus in its proper position within the womb. He was also the first to expertly draw the uterine artery and the vascular system of the cervix and vagina.”

Scientific advances, beginning with Leonardo and culminating in the ultrasound, have played no small part in helping us recognize the fetus’ human face. These chalk and ink images, then, should be seen as a minor milestone in the acknowledgment of our brotherhood with the unborn.